Chile: Belated Triumph

Few Latin American Presidents ever took office amid such high hopes. Chile's Eduardo Frei rolled up the biggest plurality in his country's history (56%), his Christian Democrats became the first government party since 1851 to win a majority in the House of Deputies, and the party went on to triple its membership in the Senate. But a mandate is one thing, politics another. Last week—after two years of long, hard talking—Frei's two key reform bills were finally approaching reality.

Frei's main bill, "Chileanizing" the copper industry, has passed the last legislative hurdle, and awaits only the signatures of some of...